A Telemedicine System As a Care Modality for Dementia Patients in Korea

Abstract

Because dementia is a chronic debilitating disease, there are the issues of the difficulty in continuous long-term care and limited accessibility to medical service. We developed the telemedicine system for dementia patients and aimed to examine the acceptance, reliability, and clinical outcome of our telemedicine service. We established the Dementia Telemedicine Center in connection with two recipient sites in 1996. The reliability of the center, which provides telemedicine, tele-education, and telecounseling services, was tested by comparing assessment via our system with in-person assessment, and the clinical outcome was assessed by rating the changes of behavioral symptoms. There have been 140 registered patients for 2 years. The general acceptance of our system by the patients and caregivers was good, and the consistency rates between the assessment via our telemedicine system and in-person assessment ranged from 76% to 89%. A considerable proportion of dementia patients in nursing homes (46%) showed relative clinical improvements through our service. Our telemedicine system seems to be reliable and effective for the assessment and care of dementia patients. Our future direction is to promote our system as a core model of the home-based care system for dementia patients.

Technology Studies to Meet the Needs of People With Dementia and Their Caregivers

“…In addition, formal caregivers were participating in studies in which information and communication technologies (ICT) were used for their own education (Calleson, Sloane, & Cohen, 2006;Engström, Ljunggren, Lindqvist, & Carlsson, 2005;Lyketsos, Roques, Hovanec, & Jones, 2001;Poon, Hui, Dai, Kwok, & Woo, 2005) or to improve access to diagnosis (Cullum, Weiner, Gehrmann, & Hynan, 2006;Gatz et al, 2002;Larner, 2003;Lee et al, 2000, Mundt, Moore, & Greist, 2005. Changing the indoor environment of the residential care by hiding doors or by using lines Topo / Needs of People With Dementia and Their Caregivers 11 or bars on floor or door patters showed no success in stopping the wandering of people with dementia in these studies (Dickinson et al, 1995;Feliciano et al, 2004;Hewawasam, 1996), but they suggested that ICT can be used more effectively in providing information and education on dementia in delivering diagnostic (Cullum et al, 2006;Gatz et al, 2002;Larner, 2003;Lee et al, 2000) and support services, in integrating the residents and the residential care in society, and in providing meaningful activities for them (Baker et al, 1997;Burgio et al, 1996;Camberg et al, 1999;Lucero et al, 2000;McConatha et al, 1994;Tamura et al, 2004). In addition, there were 15 studies in which formal caregivers were one of the user groups and the studies aimed at providing technology-mediated support services for family carers.…”

Identifying undiagnosed dementia in residential care veterans: comparing telemedicine to in‐person clinical examination

“…However, few studies have been performed regarding the use of telemedicine in patients with dementia. One study (Lee et al, 2000) found that staff and patients at a dementia unit were satisfied with telemedicine consultative services. Another study (Lyketsos et al, 2001) found that a geriatric telemedicine service in a dementia unit decreased acute hospitalizations.…”

Current status and future perspectives in telecare for elderly people suffering from chronic diseases

“…In some cases, these activities were combined with traditional home health caring strategies. 30,31 Teleconsultations between the nurse specialists located at a veterans clinic and a multidisciplinary wound care team were also reported. 9 The second large category dealt with telemonitoring.…”